The Story of Joseph

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Joseph. His dad was Jacob, and they lived in Canaan, just like Joseph’s grandpa did. He was seventeen years old, which is like being old enough to drive a car today. He had eleven brothers, and only one of them was younger than him.

Can you imagine having so many brothers to play with or maybe even have little fights with? 😊

Joseph was one of the youngest sons, so his dad, Jacob, spent lots of time with him.

Joseph became really special to his dad, and Jacob got him a very special robe. It was kind of like a super fancy jacket because they didn’t have jackets like we do today. This special robe was incredibly beautiful, with every color you can think of on it. 😊

Now, all of his older brothers saw his special robe, and they felt really jealous.

“Jealous” means they didn’t like Joseph because they thought their dad liked him more and because he had that fancy coat. They were so jealous that they couldn’t even say something nice to him. 😔

One day, Joseph had a dream, and he got really excited and went to tell his brothers.

He said, “Hey, guess what? Last night, I had this really strange dream. We were all out in the field, tying up bunches of grain, and something amazing happened. My bunch of grain stood up, and all of your bunches gathered around and bowed to mine!”

The brothers didn’t like this dream at all, but Joseph didn’t stop.

He said, “Then I had another dream where the sun, moon, and eleven stars all bowed down to me.” 😮🌟🌙

The brothers were not happy when he told them about his dreams.

They said, “Who do you think you are? Do you think you’re better than all of us? We would never bow down to you!”

This just made them like him even less.

When Joseph told his dad about the dreams, his dad said, “Those are really strange dreams,” but he thought about them carefully.

A few days later, Jacob asked him to go check on his brothers. They were working in a field pretty far away, so Joseph went to find them. 😊🌾

When Joseph’s brothers saw him from far away, they thought of a plan to hurt him badly.

But Reuben, Joseph’s oldest brother, heard this and said, “Let’s not hurt him so badly. Instead, let’s put him in a deep hole out here in the field.”

He wanted to secretly come back later and save him after the others had gone.

So, when Joseph got to them, they took off his special robe and put him in an empty well.

After a little while, a group of people came along. They wanted to sell things in Egypt.

One of the brothers had an idea, “Why don’t we sell him to these people? That way, we won’t have to see him again, and we won’t have to hurt him so badly.” 😕🌾

The other brothers thought it was a good idea, so they sold him to the people going to Egypt.

But Reuben, the oldest brother, had been busy and didn’t know what happened.

When he came back to the well, he saw that Joseph was gone.

Joseph had been sold to an important man named Potiphar, who worked for the Pharaoh of Egypt.

The rest of the brothers took his beautiful robe, dipped it in animal blood, and brought it to their dad.

When their dad saw it, he cried and said, “Some animal has hurt my son.”

He cried for many days, and nobody could make him feel better.

So, Joseph began as a slave, but God was always with him, helping him do everything the right way.

Potiphar, his owner, saw this and made him his helper, putting him in charge of everything he owned.

But there was a problem. Potiphar’s wife told a lie about Joseph to her husband, and because of that, Joseph was put in jail.

Even in jail, God was still with Joseph. The person in charge of the jail saw how trustworthy Joseph was and put him in charge of all the prisoners.

Joseph never had to worry because God was with him, making sure he did everything the right way.

After Joseph had been in jail for a while, two important people who worked for Pharaoh, a cupbearer, and a baker, ended up in the same jail.

One night, both of them had dreams, and they told Joseph about their dreams.

Joseph told the cupbearer, “You’ll be set free from jail soon. Please remember me and ask Pharaoh to get me out of here.”

But when the cupbearer was set free, he forgot all about Joseph. So Joseph had to stay in jail for two more years.

Until one day, Pharaoh had a strange dream, and no one could explain it. That’s when the cupbearer remembered what Joseph had done for him, and Joseph was brought to Pharaoh. 🌟🤴👑

Pharaoh asked Joseph, “Can you understand dreams?”

Joseph replied, “I can’t, but God helps me.”

After Pharaoh told him his dream, Joseph explained, “God is warning you. There will be seven years when nothing will grow, and there won’t be any food for anyone.”

Pharaoh wondered, “What can I do?”

Joseph replied, “God has shown you what to do. There will be seven good years before the bad ones. These years will be so good that there will be extra food for everyone. So, you should save a little bit of each year’s harvest. That way, you will have enough to get you through the bad years.” 😊🌾🍞

Pharaoh believed everything Joseph said and made him the boss of all Egypt.

People from all over the world came to buy grain from Joseph because everyone needed food.

Some of these people were his own brothers.

When they came, he knew who they were, but they didn’t recognize him. It had been more than 10 years since they had seen each other. 😮🌍🌾

Joseph’s brothers all bowed to him because he was really important, just like he dreamed when he was young.

After a few meetings with his brothers, he couldn’t keep his secret anymore.

He said to them, “I’m Joseph! Is our dad still alive?”

But his brothers were too scared to answer.

Then Joseph said, “Come closer. I’m your brother, the one you sold. Don’t worry, and don’t be mad at yourselves for selling me because God sent me here to save people from starving.”

So Joseph’s dad, his brothers, and their families all moved to Egypt with him. They had plenty of food and everything they needed. 👨‍👩‍👦🍞